To Remember
by Complementary Colours
Summary: The life of two boys from young to old; through docks, and squirrels and broken bridges. The banters, the brawls, and even moments of silence in everyday life. The tale of Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke. :: Following chronological events :: Reflective piece:: SasuNaru ::
1. Sunset Brooding on the Dock

_[ A/N: Update Rate Unkown]  
_

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Rating: K+ (Mild coarse language)

Sasuke/Naruto Friendship

(Romance later on)

[Note: Experimental Style]

Sasuke & Naruto (Naruto) are © Masashi Kishimoto

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1.

"Hey!"

Naruto was graced with no reply. He quirked his mouth, huffed in deep, and tried again.

_"Hey."_

Still no reply.

"Bastard," The blond scowled, eyes squinting and creating a disgusting face. The Uchiha raised both his eyebrows while he continued to have a staring contest with the view from the dock. "I said, _hey_. _Hey_, man, _speak!_"

Sasuke Uchiha rolled his eyes. "What?"

"I just said _hey_."

"... So?"

"Nothing, I just said hey."

Damn. Some people just didn't know when to shut up. That proud look on the blond's face was annoying, too. Sasuke decided he would just shut up again. _Yeah, that seemed like a real good idea._

The blond screwed up his face again. "I wish _Sakura _were here, she's cute and nice; you're no fun to talk to."

"... Then go away."

There was a blink and then Naruto scrunched up his face. He was thinking. Thinking _hard. _After a while Naruto- who still hadn't left- was still deep in thought. Sasuke, being the kind generous boy he was, offered his own voice.

"Why_ not_?"

And then suddenly, bingo! It looked like the blond had been enlightened and Sasuke was almost scared of an intelligent answer.

"Because." And Naruto smiled before getting tired of standing, sitting down onto the rough wood of the dock next to the other. Sasuke stared blankly.

"_What?_"

"_Because_... Just _because_." Naruto replied, feeling like it was a totally cool answer to give.

Sasuke Uchiha was not impressed.

"_What?" _

He needed an explanation; a REAL explanation. Why was this idiot bugging him? Couldn't he see Sasuke didn't like talking? Didn't he see Sasuke didn't want to do anything other than sit here and stare at the horizon with no one buggering him and sharing his view? He wanted to be alone, like he always was. The laughter, the infectious carefreeness- he didn't want any of it. None of it at all. Not when he had so much to mourn about.

Naruto huffed at the snappiness of the Uchiha... _No. Fun_. _But the reaction on his face, sorta, was. _"Because... Uhm."

Scoffing at his inability at finding a valid answer, Sasuke ignored the boy beside him as the idiot concentrated and_ kept continuing to find that answer_.

He was the same age as Sasuke, really. The Uchiha saw him at the academy pretty much every day. It didn't mean they talked often- wait-_ no_. They _never_ talked. To be honest it was pretty hard to talk to anyone, with the barrier of a hundred (only a _slight_ exaggeration) admirers crowding around him every time he stepped foot into the academy... and Naruto was just _different_. No one talked to him. In fact, everyone was _disgusted_ by him. In contrast, everyone admired _him_... There was just no reason to talk to each other _anyway._

Naruto was loud, annoying, brash and too bright for someone who people should be ashamed to live. Why people despised the boy Sasuke didn't know, but he figured he didn't really care, anyway.

They were never expected to cross paths- Sasuke was perfect at whatever he did, the other was too careless. Someone like him would never understand. And Sasuke should ever only care for one thing.

Only caring for one thing he should _never_ let anything cross his path that mattered much more than_ that one thing_. He had a brother to kill, after all.

He didn't care about anything else. _He didn't care. Sasuke didn't have -_

Naruto's eyes lit up with answer. "Because..."

_-time to care. To waste-_

"...I saw you were..."

_-on trivial things like-_

"...alone..."

_-this. _

_Because... because _no one_ could ever understand._


	2. Mad Squirrel in the Training Grounds

Rating: K+ (Mild coarse language)

Sasuke/Naruto Friendship

(Romance later on)

[Note: Experimental Style]

Sasuke & Naruto (Naruto) are © Masashi Kishimoto

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2.

"NARUTO!"

There was a visible flinch as he heard his teacher's voice ring in the air, almost causing him to lose balance on the tree branch he crouched on.

_Phew..._

Below, the water rumbled it's elegant roar, splashing against the sides of the river bank and making drops of water cut through the air and onto the laughing children's faces. Naruto grinned at the children below and looked up to see his prey- a shivering squirrel- latched onto a tree branch above and just a few centimeters away from his grabbing hands. The children gasped as Naruto wobbled.

_They were watching! They were all watching him! _Him!_ Ha!_

The young boy felt excitement grip his heart. A sweat broke loose at the side of his neck and ran down to his collarbone as some poor organ in his chest tried to hammer out it's cage. Naruto gulped.

_Just a little further... Get that little squirrel. Don't let it beat you, Uzumaki! They're watching!  
_  
Naruto reached out to grab at the innocent creature's tail, but it shrank away. The blond boy huffed, and made to stand on the tip of his toes. It would have worked, had the squirrel suddenly sprang out and landed on the blond boy's hair, causing blue eyes to widen, it's colour matching perfectly with the rushing water beneath him.

He heard a surprised yell- probably Iruka- some loud snickers, some scoffs and suddenly it stopped as people got sidetracked with another boy's pet dog doing new tricks. He heard silence and only Iruka was still yelling for him as he splashed backwards into the water's current.

_...It hurt. It really hurt..._

He was floating away not-so-elegantly thinking of how much it bloody hurt to be so alone and insignificant to absolutely everyone- even when he was spluttering in cold water. He threw it to the back of his mind, laughing at himself at even thinking anyone should care. The whole village had hated him since... um... Since when? Since forever? Even longer than that. He still had the nerve to think someone would care? Naruto really did laugh and found that water flooded into his mouth and rushed down his windpipe. The actual choking started. He panicked, splashing harder than before and trying to yelp with no success.

It was then that two wet-sleeved arms wrapped themselves around the young boy and he was heaved onto the bank, still choking. Water in his throat was coughed out until he felt like he could breathe and his eyes weren't watering from hacking anymore.

Naruto then heard yelling. Iruka was scrutinizing him with anger, his voice sharp and harsh as he raised a finger and shoved it into Naruto's vision. He was almost angry- angry that right after nearly drowning he got a lecture. Angry that the only thing anyone did when he fell was laugh and feel like he deserved it. Angry he couldn't do anything right. Naruto was uncomfortable, soaking and... and then he realized that Iruka's eyes were darting around his body, searching for any further injuries from falling into the water. The hurt and worry in his eyes were suddenly extremely easy to see... and Naruto's hard eyes softened as his teacher rambled and rambled.

"You idiot! You could have drowned, Naruto! You never listen- what am I going to do with you? You have to listen in class, Naruto, and furthermore you shouldn't be pulling stupid stunts before you have the proper skill to handle dangerous..."

But Naruto had already tuned out the words, and instead drank in the sweet worried tone of voice. Iruka was paying attention to him. Iruka cared. Naruto almost smiled, trying to absorb it all...

...so he listened...  
_  
... but then again the speech Iruka was giving was kinda boring,_he figured around a minute later. With that, his eyes started to scan the area for anything more exciting while Iruka's mouth ran miles. The atmosphere of the place was totally calm, totally natural. The grass by the river bank was bright green, and the sky a brilliant blue. There were scattered trees around the area, the number of which seemed to dense the further away from Naruto's current standing they got- then, there was a slight ringing clang behind him. Naruto curiously looked over his shoulder.

Some distance behind him a small boy huffed. That small boy, roughly Naruto's age, staggered a bit before steadying himself. He glared daggers at the tree which he seemed to have missed with his last throw, before swiping two shuriken out, in front of him, and then drawing his arms back in preparation for another shot. Naruto stared in awe. He watched the swift movements as the boy struck forward and let go of the shuriken, stabbing into the tree with a deadly accuracy. He carried it out with such skill that the whole sequence looked fancy and intricate- unlike the mess that Naruto made when he attempted it, his limbs swaying everywhere and the shuriken only loosely hanging onto the bark. Sometimes the shuriken would even fall off. The difference was the reason why people would always watch Sasuke, and brush Naruto off with a sneer. Everyone would want to watch Sasuke, whilst no one watched himself. They were so different.

_And yet...  
_  
"Naruto, are you even listening to me?... Oh! Sasuke, is that you? What are you doing all the way here? It's almost time to head back to the academy. The trip is nearly over."

_ ...he was always alone too. _

Something about that fact had always made Naruto's heart tighten, beat excitedly, and uncontrollably threatened to draw him towards the boy, to talk to him- maybe, maybe, just _maybe_ they could be friends. _Maybe._ And he'd tried before, so many times. Most to no avail. Naruto scrunched up his face. But who needs him, anyway, he thinks he's too good for you...

Sasuke made his way to the other side of Iruka, and Iruka put his hands behind both their backs to usher them gently along back to the rest of the group. Walking back, Naruto couldn't help but curiously, and hopefully peak to the other side of Iruka with admiring eyes. However, the other boy never met his eyes, his own eyes staring at the ground, upon a solitary path on which he walked.


	3. Sunset Smile on the Dock

Rating: K+ (Mild coarse language)

Sasuke/Naruto Friendship

(Romance later on)

[Note: Experimental Style]

Sasuke & Naruto (Naruto) are © Masashi Kishimoto

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3.

The day after their first encounter at the dock, Naruto chose to walk back from the academy on the hill overlooking the lake. The sun was setting, bathing the lake and the plant-life around it with a rich orange-golden tinge. Coming back, he was happy to see Sasuke hadn't moved elsewhere in hopes of avoiding Naruto, even if he'd approached the boy and annoyed him a whole bit the day before.

Naruto vaguely noted that Sasuke made the scene look sad- a small lone boy, wistful, even in the golden of the sun. He should have been shining.

Naruto's lip wavered slightly. He almost let out a scoff at the unfairness of it all, before black eyes blinked towards him and stunned him into gulping. He scrunched up his face, imitating a disgusted look, and saw the other's disapproval too. He turned back- a swift, exaggerated look to the other direction. He kept this for a few seconds before peeking at the boy he was leaving behind to the sunset.

And what a beautiful sunset it was, that lit his heart on fire with happiness. But even more...

Naruto would never admit it, but it was really nice to make someone smile to the setting sun.


End file.
